Seven dead in Lviv in new wave of attacks on Ukraine

A mother and her three daughters were among seven people killed in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv in a new wave of Russian attacks. A baby and another girl were also killed, officials said.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy said Russia attacked with drones and hypersonic missiles early Wednesday morning.

The attack comes as Ukraine is still reeling from Russia’s deadliest bombing this year – an attack on a military academy in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava that killed 53 people.

Explosions were also heard over the capital Kyiv on Wednesday as air defences targeted Russian missiles. Five people were injured in Kryvyy Rih when a hotel was hit and nearby apartment buildings were damaged.

The attack on Lviv in far western Ukraine came as the whole of Ukraine was on air raid alert. Witnesses said the city was targeted at around 05:40 (02:40 GMT).

The Russian Defense Ministry said it fired Kinzhal hypersonic missiles at Ukrainian defense industry facilities in Lviv and all designated targets were hit.

However, Mr Sadovy said the Russian attack had destroyed more than 50 buildings in Lviv’s historic centre, including homes, schools and clinics.

He posted a photo on social media of a local family, saying only the father survived. His wife, Yevgenia, and their three daughters — Darina, Emilia and Yaryna, 21 — were all found dead in their home, he said.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia fired 13 missiles and 29 attack drones and shot down seven cruise missiles and 22 drones.

Mr Sadovy said several buildings were hit near the railway station and the head of the Lviv regional government, Maksym Kozytskyi, said residential buildings had been damaged in the attack.

Lviv has largely avoided the worst of the fighting during the two-and-a-half-year war, but last week Russian airstrikes targeted the city’s energy infrastructure, causing blackouts, officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to call on Ukraine’s Western allies to fire all their long-range weapons deeper into Russia.

In Poltava, rescuers continue to search through the rubble of the military communications institute. for survivors of the attack.

Mykyta Petrov, a 26-year-old cadet who joined the school two weeks ago, said two missiles hit their target shortly after 09:00 (06:00 GMT) on Tuesday, with the second missile exploding just three seconds after the first.

“I ran outside, smoke and dust were flying everywhere… a lot of people were outside smoking, and a lot of people died.”

The practitioner said there was “too much blood, too many dead bodies” and what he witnessed affected him psychologically.

The air raid siren had sounded two minutes earlier, but that was still not enough time for everyone to get to the bomb shelter.

“Just imagine you are on the sixth floor of some building and you need to run down the stairs. Is it realistic that you can do this in two minutes?” Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko told the BBC.

Officials said 271 people were injured in Russian airstrikes on Poltava, and as of Wednesday afternoon, 400 people had donated blood at the main regional hospital.

Among them was Oleksandr Moskvich, 38, who was seriously wounded on the front line last year in fierce fighting for the eastern city of Bakhmut.

He pointed to the scars on his neck and back where he was shot by Russian soldiers while on patrol. “Right now I can only give people my blood, my support. I can talk to them and try to understand, because I have been through this.”

Poltava is in three days of mourning and there is an eerie silence throughout the hospital. A Ukrainian flag flies outside the building with a black ribbon attached, while inside, the corridors of the blood donation department are packed with people waiting their turn.

The doctor in charge of the blood donation, Volodymyr Rudikov, said the people of Poltava had united in an unimaginably difficult time: “This is something I have never seen in my 16 years as a chief physician.”

President Zelensky promised that those he called “Russian scum” would pay the price for the attack, while repeatedly calling for increased air defenses so Ukraine could defend itself by launching long-range missile strikes.

In a statement confirming the death of the serviceman, the Ukrainian army said an investigation was underway to determine whether adequate measures had been taken to protect those in the facility hit by the missile.

Poltava region governor Philip Pronin called the attack a “cunning and brutal Russian attack” and later said 15 people were still believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Mr Zelensky is expected to meet the Irish prime minister on Wednesday as Ireland prepares to announce new funding for Ukraine’s war effort.

The Irish government said the package would provide vital humanitarian aid, support recovery and reconstruction, and contribute to Ukraine’s long-term goals.